The Inquisition of Climate Science

Modern science is under the greatest and most successful attack in recent history. An industry of denial, abetted by news media and "info-tainment" broadcasters more interested in selling controversy than presenting facts, has duped half the American public into rejecting the facts of climate science—an overwhelming body of rigorously vetted scientific evidence showing that human-caused, carbon-based emissions are linked to warming the Earth. The industry of climate science denial is succeeding: public acceptance has declined even as the scientific evidence for global warming has increased. It is vital that the public understand how anti-science ideologues, pseudo-scientists, and non-scientists have bamboozled them. We cannot afford to get global warming wrong—yet we are, thanks to deniers and their methods.

The Inquisition of Climate Science is the first book to comprehensively take on the climate science denial movement and the deniers themselves, exposing their lack of credentials, their extensive industry funding, and their failure to provide any alternative theory to explain the observed evidence of warming. In this book, readers meet the most prominent deniers while dissecting their credentials, arguments, and lack of objectivity. James Lawrence Powell shows that the deniers use a wide variety of deceptive rhetorical techniques, many stretching back to ancient Greece. Carefully researched, fully referenced, and compellingly written, his book clearly reveals that the evidence of global warming is real and that an industry of denial has deceived the American public, putting them and their grandchildren at risk.

This book is a winner, written in an easy, logical style with thorough and fascinating discussions of major deniers. Orrin Pilkey, Duke University, coauthor of The Rising Sea

With the evidence for global warming so strong, why, Powell asks, does half the American public doubt it? His answer is a history of the campaign of denial, the most comprehensive and up-to-date history available. It is well written and well worth reading: this is the most important issue facing our generation. Spencer Weart, author of The Discovery of Global Warming

This courageous and well-researched book exposes how ideologues and money combined to attack sound climate science. Richard Somerville, University of California, San Diego, author of The Forgiving Air: Understanding Environmental Change, second edition

Powell consistently brings the sharp insight of a knowledgeable insider melded with the skepticism of a critical outsider to the most important issues in science. In his latest book—his best yet—he shows us the path to understanding climate change. Peter D. Ward, The University of Washington

James Lawrence Powell's must-read book is a welcome addition to the growing literature debunking fossil fuel-funded, anti-science disinformation. As Powell makes clear, it is time for scientists to stand up and be counted. Joseph Romm, editor of Climate Progress and senior fellow at American Progress

this is a highly authoritative and accessible book that should be read by everyone who has any doubts about the reality of climate change. Irish Times

Books like 'The Inquisition' offer a clear antidote to the evolving national viral infection of antiscience. Get it. Read it. Tell others about it. John Atcheson, 1895

By looking at climate science, business, politics, and media, Powell has taken a comprehensive approach, doing a thorough job of boxing in the deniers' arguments and deflating them while at the same time providing an accessible read for nonprofessionals. Library Journal Xpress Reviews

A masterful compilation of nearly all the evidence, not only for the reality of anthropogenic global warming, but especially answering point-by-point the ridiculous attempts by climate deniers to cloud and distort the issues by raising one bogus charge after another. Donald R. Prothero, Skeptic Blog

A rare look at the politicalization of an important science.... Recommended. Choice

...a worthwhile read...an invaluable tool for those of us that are committed to fighting against the assault on climate science, be it the writers, the teachers, the activists, the politicians, or the scientists. Sarah Kenehan, Environmental Philosophy

A clear antidote to the evolving national viral infection of antiscience. Get it. Read it. Tell others about it. John Atcheson, Science Progress

The Inquisition of Climate Science is an excellent, well-written book for the general audience which gives readers a broad view of organized attacks on climate science over the last few decades. Reports of the National Center for Science Education

The first book to examine the history and milieu of the climate science denial process as a whole... a 'must' for any college-level science collection. Midwest Book Review

PrefaceIntroductionNot Skeptics, by Deniers1. Science and Potemkin ScienceNever a CrisisA Political MovementA Cheap TuxedoBetter Than Scientists2. Adventures in Denierland Urban Myth?Cave Junction3. The Evidence for ConsensusSpam FilterNewton's Second LawPolling ScientistsAn Extremely Pernicious Development4. Discovery of Global Warming One of the Oldest TheoriesA Large-Scale Geophysical Experiment5. The Greenhouse Effect: From Curiosity to Threat Models Predict WarmingGlobetrottersThe Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change6. Global Warming: All You Really Need to Know in One Chart7. Tobacco Tactics: The Scientist-DeniersAll of Those People Are Wrong With All Due Respect, by Dr. MichaelsThe $45 Million ManIf Science Doesn't Have IntegrityBlue MarbleNuke Vietnam?Foot Soldier8. Fear of State: The NonscientistsAren't You Embarrassed, by Mr. Will?Once AgainThe Lomborg DeceptionBed-Wetting, by Messianic9. Toxic TanksHarry and LouiseTale from the CryptPlease Don't Poop in My SaladEmbarrassing General MarshallPush Down on the Accelerator10. An Industry to TrustMost Profitable Company in HistoryAn Industry That Cannot Afford Denial11. Balance as Bias: How the Media Missed "The Story of the Century"The Prestige PressPlumes of Smoke from ChinaCarbongateEnd of Objectivity?Systemic Failure12. Science Under AttackIt's the Sun, by OzoneTestosteroneWatts Up with That?Slap ShotThe Medieval Warm PeriodDo Climate Models Work?Did Global Warming End in 1998?Chicken or Egg?GRACETropospheric Cooling?13. Greatest Hoax in History?Who's to Blame? Liberals, by of CourseTo Command SpringFunding ResearchTraitors 14. Climategate: Much Ado About NothingOne Million WordsInnocent of All ChargesGates and More Gates15. Anatomy of Denial To Roll Back Industrial Society16. Escalating TacticsMonkey TrialsOld Virginia Home17. Earning TrustAppendixNotesBibliographyAcknowledgmentsIndex

Read an excerpt from The Inquisition of Climate Science (to view in full screen, click on icon in bottom right-hand corner)

Web Features:

Read a series of posts from James Powell, Science Denialism Is Not Free: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 4.

VIDEO: "How We Know Global Warming Is True," a video prepared by James L. Powell:

About the Author

James Lawrence Powell was born and raised in Kentucky and graduated from Berea College. He received his Ph.D. in Geochemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has had a distinguished career as a college teacher, college president, museum director, and author of books on earth science for general audiences. He serves as executive director of the National Physical Science Consortium, a partnership among government agencies and laboratories, industry, and higher education dedicated to increasing the number of American citizens with graduate degrees in the physical sciences and related engineering fields, emphasizing recruitment of a diverse applicant pool that includes women and minorities. He has taught at Oberlin College and has served as its acting president. He has also been president of Franklin and Marshall College, Reed College, the Franklin Institute Science Museum in Philadelphia, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History. Both Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush appointed Powell to the National Science Board.